22-26 May 2017 · Disney – the art of Zootopia Matt Brooker AKA D’Israeli – original comic panels from Batman: Shadow of the Bat AtomHawk Studio Drew Struzan – a range of

22-26 May 2017

Programme

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Week at a glance

ContentsWelcome 3

Animex AVFX 4

Animex Exhibition 6

Animex Game 8

Animex Screen and Awards 12

Animex Workshops 14

Speakers 16

Festival map 19

Now in our 18th year, Animex – Teesside University’s international festival of animation and computer games – once again brings together an exciting line-up of speakers from some of the world’s top studios, giving you the chance to learn from the best through our talks and workshops.

We will be taking a look behind the scenes of award-winning games and films, as well as exploring what’s new in animation. Animex Screen will be showing highly acclaimed animated films from around the world, as well as the shortlisted entries into our international student and professional animation awards, and Animex Exhibition will feature stunning artwork by some of our special guests.

This year our workshops and masterclasses will explore acting and anatomy for animators, as well as concept art, creature design and designing for VR. Make sure you pop along to ExpoTees, our end of year show, on Wednesday afternoon in The Curve.

Our evening lounge sessions provide you with the opportunity to meet our speakers face-to-face. So, practice your banter and winning smiles, spruce up your portfolios, and don’t forget to bring some extra pennies for our popular charity auctions.

We hope that you enjoy the week and leave refreshed, inspired and ready to make your own mark on the games and animation industries.

Gabrielle KentAnimex festival director

A message from our DeanOn behalf of the School of Computing I would like to offer a warm welcome to Teesside University’s Animex 2017. I would also especially like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all our sponsors and invited speakers who have kindly given their time and energy in support of our festival. The success of Animex has always been a result of the hard work and dedication of our friends and supporters, both externally and here within the University who together make Animex the unique world-class experience it has become. I am very grateful to all of you who have contributed this year and as always am extremely proud to be part of Animex. I hope that you have a wonderful and enjoyable time and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during the week.

Simon StobartDean, School of Computing

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

9.00am - Animex AVFX Animex AVFX Workshops Animex Game Animex Game5.00pm OL1, Europa OL1, Europa Check in OL1, Europa OL1, Europa at Europa

Check Animex Screen Animex Screen Animex Screen Animex Screen Animex Screenschedule* and Awards and Awards and Awards and Awards and Awards Various locations Various locations Various locations Various locations Various locations

From ExpoTees ExpoTees 1.30pm The Curve The Curve

Evening AVFX Lounge Animex Awards Fringe event Players’ Lounge The Hub, OL1, Europa Game Bridge The Hub, Students’ Union from 5.30pm The Hub, Students’ Union from 7.30pm Students’ Union from 7.30pm from 6.00pm

* Screenings take place from 22-31 May. See Animex Screen and Awards information for details.

Welcome to Animex 2017

9.00am Registration – Europa foyer

For unregistered attendees only.

10.00am Heathrow Airport: Coming Home for Christmas

David Hempstead, 3D artist, The Mill

Working with Havas London and Outsider, The Mill created two 100% CG teddy bears for Heathrow’s 75th anniversary advertising campaign. In this talk David Hempstead will reveal some of the methodologies and techniques The Mill used to achieve the level of realism seen in these characters, to make one of the most endearing Christmas adverts of last year.

11.00am How making mistakes is the best way to succeed

Domareen Fox, art director, Studio Soi

Patrick Brennecke, production manager, Studio Soi

You may often hear from outside the creative industry that creating cartoons is a cake walk, free and as easy as pushing a button. It is in fact hard work, with tiring days, taxing discussions with your team and requiring the willingness to let go. Domareen Fox and Patrick Brennecke give an insight into the working minds at Studio Soi and tell you why making a lot of mistakes and taking time to rethink can pave the road to success.

12.00pm Lunch

1.30pm Animating The Jungle Book

Peta Bayley, animation supervisor, MPC

Peta Bayley presents a behind the scenes look at the Oscar-winning animation of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book. Peta will share how MPC’s animators brought the many inhabitants of Mowgli’s jungle world to life, and navigated the creative and technical challenges they encountered along the way.

2.30pm Break

3.00pm The anatomy and diversity of Zootropolis

Stuart Sumida, professor of biology / anatomy consultant

Stuart Sumida joins us to discuss the underlying anatomy of the characters in Disney’s Oscar-winning animated feature Zootropolis and how animal characters and human postures were melded to generate the incredible diversity of characters in the film.

4.00pm Water and coconuts: the complexities of layout on Moana

Rob Dressel, director of cinematography and layout, Walt Disney Animation Studios

In this session Rob explores the challenges of shooting a movie that takes place mostly on the ocean and the complex world around it.

5.00pm AVFX close

8.30am Registration – Europa foyer

9.50am Welcome

Professor Paul Croney, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Teesside University

Gabrielle Kent, Animex festival director

Chris Wyatt, Animex AVFX

10.00am The FX of Lego Batman

Matt Estela, VR supervisor, Animal Logic

In this presentation Matt Estela will talk about The Lego Batman Movie, sharing some of the tricks he and the team at Animal Logic learned along the way. There’ll be a focus on the FX techniques used in the film, both brick-based and more traditional FX, and some bonus material from his latest VR Lego Batman project which will be released shortly before Animex begins.

11.00am Animating Ethel and Ernest

Peter Dodd, animation director, Lupus Films

British feature film Ethel and Ernest was a long format revival for the UK animation industry. Realising something not attempted for many years presented many challenges: a hand-drawn film not specifically marketed at children – remaining faithful to the book and to past Raymond Briggs adaptations, yet keeping it relevant to modern day cinema and embracing new technology. Animation director Peter Dodd talks about marrying the traditional and the modern to bring the acclaimed book to life.

12.00pm Lunch

1.30pm The VFX of Alien:Covenant

Stuart Penn, VFX supervisor, Framestore

Framestore teamed up with Ridley Scott on the highly anticipated science-fiction horror Alien:Covenant. After winding back the clock on the Alien universe with 2012’s Prometheus, Covenant continues the story

with some ground-breaking VFX work by the Framestore team. Stuart will take us through the reimagining of cult creatures including the Facehugger and the Chestburster, as well as some stunning environment work and the build of the covenant ship itself.

2.30pm Break

3.00pm The animation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Colin McEvoy, animation supervisor - Double Negative

Animation supervisor Colin McEvoy from Double Negative Visual Effects presents the creative and technical challenges behind Double Negative’s animation work on the BAFTA nominated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

4.00pm The VFX of Rogue One: a Star Wars Story

Bradley Floyd, 2D sequence supervisor, ILM London

John Seru, generalist lead, ILM London

In this presentation John Seru and Brad Floyd will explain how the artists at ILM London helped Gareth Edwards create a beautifully realised location full of life, colour, history and the intricate details of an occupied city... then blew it all up!

5.00pm Close

7.30pm - AVFX Lounge, The Hub, 10.30pm Students’ Union

Join our speakers and studios for networking in our award-winning Students’ Union. Recruiters from studios including Double Negative, Framestore, MPC, The Mill and ILM will be in attendance.

Monday 22 May | OL1, Europa Tuesday 23 May | OL1, Europa

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Welcome to the 18th Animex AVFX, an exciting two day programme of talks from world-class animation and VFX studios and experts, packed with insights into the recent major releases and projects that are grabbing the headlines.

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Animex AVFX

Ethel and Ernest Moana

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Animex ExhibitionAnimex Exhibition runs throughout festival week, providing a chance for festival goers to view exciting pre and post production artwork and individual projects by artists and designers in the field of animation and games.

Animex Exhibition is 10 years old and is celebrating by exhibiting work from 10 of the fabulous artists and studios we have exhibited over the years.

10 years of Animex Exhibitions | Constantine Gallery

The exhibition launches on 22 May and will feature an exciting selection of work by:

Disney – the art of Zootopia

Matt Brooker AKA D’Israeli – original comic panels from Batman: Shadow of the Bat

AtomHawk Studio

Drew Struzan – a range of renowned movie posters by this incredible artist

Tori Cat – a range of concept art, including work from Rio

Alessandro Taini – a selection of concept and character work

Joe Ng – Street Fighter: Akuma panels

Ken Wong – the art of Monument Valley

Adi Granov – detailed Marvel concept and cover work

Domareen Fox – a series of sketchbook drawings by Studio Soi’s art director

Dave Paget – concept work from Kong: Skull Island

Zootopia

AtomHawk

Joe Ng

Tori

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Domareen Fox Drew Struzan

Mat

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Alessandro Taini

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Animex Game

9.00am Registration – Europa foyer For unregistered attendees only

10.00am So, what’s the story... with Bethesda’s stories?

Emil Pagliarulo, design director, Bethesda Game Studios

Join Emil as he dives into Bethesda’s approach to telling stories in games such as Skyrim and Fallout, and the three general rules that he applies when doing so.

11.00am Game design and VR: working with new rules

Gary Napper, game director, Supermassive Games

Many have called VR the wild frontier of videogames because so many things that used to work for regular games no longer apply to VR titles. In a similar way, new rules are being written for great ways of doing things in VR and things that you should never ever do. However, from working hands-on in VR many are discovering that the list of dos and don’ts can be broken very quickly. Gary Napper from Supermassive Games discusses working with VR and some of the discoveries and theories surrounding development.

12.00pm Lunch

1.30pm The development voyage of a Sea of Thieves

Louise O’Connor, executive producer, Rare Ltd

Ahoy! Hop on board as Louise tells us of her merry crew’s voyage, spinning a tale of brave battles, hijinks, and uncovered treasures, in the development of Rare’s highly anticipated action-adventure Sea of Thieves.

2.30pm Break

3.00pm Designing to be overlooked

Åsa Roos, senior UX designer, Bioware

There’s one area in games that’s best when it’s not noticed. User experience design encompasses both the user interface and the introduction of the game to the player, and a good user experience does this without added frustration on the player’s part. This is a short introduction to user experience design, how it ties in to game design and how you can use it to streamline both the experience of play and the mechanics of your game.

4.00pm First-person animation of Overwatch

Matt Boehm, gameplay character animator, Blizzard

Each member of Overwatch’s diverse cast of heroes has a lovingly crafted visual design and a distinct personality. How does one maintain this sense of character in a game primarily experienced through the first person? This talk dives into the artistic and technical challenges of creating personality in first person animation while staying true to the designer’s intent for gameplay.

5.00pm Festival closing remarks

9.00am Registration – Europa foyer For unregistered attendees only

9.55am Welcome Gabrielle Kent, Animex festival director

10.05am Shooty Shooty Gun Hands: making a VR experience from the ground up

Wyeth Johnson, technical art lead, Epic Games

Robo Recall has been lauded by many as the best VR experience to date and the first system seller for Oculus Touch. The developers also screwed a bunch of stuff up and had no idea what they were doing. Thankfully, making functional VR is starting to really make sense, and these early projects provide tons of education for those who follow, which is why they gave the whole thing away, source and all, for free. Let’s talk input devices, design philosophy, project pillars, technical issues, making something with a tiny team, and why holding a coffee mug with your pinky out is so important.

11.00am Making games for kids Chris Walter, games producer,

BBC Children’s Interactive

Children are the future, so it’s important we set them on the right track. Chris Walter will talk about his experiences as a games producer for BBC Children’s Interactive, making games that go hand-in-hand with television brands and the incredibly diverse ability of the 2-12 year age range.

12.00pm Lunch

1.30pm In conversation with Rhianna Pratchett Rhianna Pratchett, scriptwriter and story

designer

Gabrielle Kent, author and games lecturer

Veteran word wrangler and narrative paramedic Rhianna Pratchett returns to Animex to join children’s author Gabrielle Kent in a cosy chat about writing, game narrative, and possibly Cher’s 1991 fitness video.

2.30pm Break

3.00pm Dialogue systems in Double Fine games

Anna Kipnis, senior gameplay programmer, Double Fine

You might have toyed with the idea of having recorded dialog in your game and wondered what, exactly, that would entail. In this session Anna will give a broad overview of how dialog gets into a Double Fine game, from the moment a line is written to hearing and seeing the line in the engine, even in a foreign tongue. This session focuses on the technology required to make it possible, as well as exploring some useful approaches, including examples of dynamic dialog systems.

4.00pm Animating the mechanical creatures in Horizon Zero Dawn

Richard Oud, lead animator, Guerrilla Games

Richard joins us to discuss the tricks and challenges that came with animating the awe-inspiring mechanical creatures for one of this year’s most striking open world games.

5.00pm Close

From Players’ Lounge 7.30pm -10.30pm A lively networking event for audience and

speakers in our Students’ Union Terrace Bar.

Thursday 25 May | OL1, Europa

Friday 26 May | OL1, Europa

Welcome to Animex Game, a packed two day programme of talks from some of the world's most innovative games studios, including an evening event for you to make contacts and network with the creators of some of your favourite games.

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Sea of Thieves

Fallout 4

Overwatch

ExpoTees is the School of Computing’s annual exhibition that showcases exemplary student work in computer science, computer games, animation, digital media and web.

Find out more: tees.ac.uk/expotees

ExpoTees201723-24 May The Curve

SCREEN AND AWARDS

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22 - 31 May 2017*

*Excluding 27/28 May

7 days of screenings

250 filmsfor the price of one

cinema ticket

(free entry for Teesside University students and Animex Pass holders)

animex.net

Bird

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Animex Screen and Awards

Animex Awards winners’ event

Join us on Tuesday 23 May for drinks and refreshments from 5.30pm, followed at 6.00pm by the announcement of the winners and screening of the Animex Awards Winners Reel at 6.30pm in the Europa atrium and in OL1. This event is open to all Animex Pass holders and advanced booking for the event is recommended as capacity is limited. Find out more at animex.net.

More than 250 international animations to see

Find out more at animex.net.

Vote for your favourite short animation

Don’t forget to vote for your favourite short animation film throughout all the screenings. The resulting Animex Audience Award will be announced on the website and social media at the end of the festival. Anyone attending the screenings can participate by voting.

Animation feature films

Check out animex.net for the animation feature-length films invited this year and when they will be showing.

The best of Animex Screen and Awards at ARC

Catch up on the best of Animex Screen and Awards at a full day of animation screenings held at ARC, Stockton Arts

Centre, on Tuesday 30 May. This event is open to all Animex Pass holders. Simply call ARC’s Box Office on 01642 525 199 to reserve your ticket, before collecting on the day. Advance booking is recommended as capacity is limited. Tickets are available for non-Pass holders priced at £4.00 for an individual screening or £10.00 for a Day Pass (access to all screenings at ARC).

Don’t miss the ARC Film Fans after-film chat

Join us for the ARC Film Fans post-film discussion following the 7.30pm programme in ARC’s cafe bar, No 60. This discussion is a relaxed and informal chance to chat about the day’s screenings.

Our film screenings celebrate the unique art of animation, its diversity of styles, techniques and themes. Whether entertaining, stunning, quirky, beautiful, cutting-edge, innovative, challenging or inspiring, animation speaks a universal visual language, accessible to everyone. Animex Screen gives you the opportunity to see an international selection of truly amazing animation films that you might otherwise never get the chance to see.

Animex Awards has become one of the largest international competitions for student animations while we have also introduced an international competition for professional animations. This year more than 2,000 eligible films were submitted from around the world. Short animations are competing in several categories open to all styles and techniques, from 2D drawing to CGI to stop-motion, from characters to experimental to visual effects to computer games animation.

Judging panels from previous awards have included representatives from Walt Disney Animation Studios, LAIKA, ToonBoom Animation, Pixar, ILM, Aardman Animation, Sony Image Works, DreamWorks and Electronic Arts, just to name a few. The winners of Animex Awards 2017 will be announced during the main festival week and published at animex.net.

All the animation screenings are open to the public, held at Teesside University venues, and at the ARC Cinema, Stockton Arts Centre. The screenings provide a choice of locations and times to make it possible for visitors to see animation programmes at their preferred sessions.

As a holder of a Festival Pass, you can enjoy all the animation film screenings including the Awards winners’ event for no extra charge.

Sabrina SchmidAnimex Screen and Awards curator

Animex Screen and Awards brings you some of the best animated films from across the globe with screenings held from 22-31 May.

Animation screening venues:

OL1/OL7, Europa, Teesside University

CLT, Constantine, Teesside University

SLT, Stephenson, Teesside University

ARC Cinema, Stockton Arts Centre, Dovecott Street, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1LL

The complete animation programme schedule is shown on the Screen and Awards flyer, with all the film details available on the Animex website.

Also follow our Facebook page @animexscreenawards for news and updates.

My Life as a Courgette by Claude Barras

Judgement Jam

Highlights include:

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9.30am - 12.30pm Digital painting: the fundamentals of environment development Dave Paget, freelance concept artist and games art lecturer

One session (half day) This workshop looks at the early construction of environment painting. Starting with black 20 places and white sketches, Dave will demonstrate his painting process providing useful hints £15.00 and tips. The session will cover composition, layout, how to bring colour into your work, and

applying appropriate textures. You will also be guided through the development of your own digital environment painting over the course of the workshop.

9.30am - 12.30pm Drawing for creature design: theory and practice Rosemary Chalmers, concept artist and lecturer, Teesside University

One session (half day) This workshop provides an introduction to creature design and covers theory and practice 20 places with an aim to create a believable creature concept. Rosemary will demonstrate the principles £15.00 of creating imaginary animals based on the anatomy of real animals. Topics covered include: finding inspiration and reference, consideration of behaviour and habitat, and practical guidance on combining animal features through drawing. Throughout the workshop, you will be given guidance and feedback on the creation of your own hybrid creature design.

Equipment needed: sketchbook and drawing utensils.

9.30am - 4.30pm Acting and movement analysis for animators(lunch break Sarah Perry, acting and movement coach, Shapes in Motion 12.30pm - 1.30pm) This workshop includes a combination of theory, discussion, observation and analysis, and One session (full day) practical work, drawing influences from various acting styles and practitioners including 25 places Laban and Stanislavski, focusing on techniques particularly useful for the animator to £25.00 consider. The techniques can be applied to both human and creature character animation.

Join us for this fun and informative workshop which will introduce and develop acting and character movement techniques and ideas to facilitate your animation work. Please wear comfortable clothes to move around in.

9.30am - 12.30pm Game design communication: getting your idea across Gary Napper, game director, Supermassive Games

One session (half day) A game design is only as good as its communication. If no one can understand what is great 300 places about your designs, then people will struggle to accept and work with your ideas. There are £15.00 many traditional ways of communicating from game design documents to wikis and websites. This workshop will help you learn about formats and methods of communicating and recording your designs and how to communicate them to others, whether your team is a huge AAA developer or an indie team of two.

1.30pm - 4.30pm Animal structure for animators and VFX Artists: from real life to the critical shapes (lunch break found in animated creatures12.30pm - 1.30pm) Stuart Sumida, professor of biology / anatomy consultant, California State University

One session (half day) Stuart Sumida takes the basics of animal construction based on diet, movement and 300 places behavior and summarizes them for and with the workshop participants. Then, based on £25.00 joint workshops developed with DreamWorks Feature Animation, pinpoints specific body

shapes, limb shapes and lines, and facial components that must be emphasized to sell the character, or which may be simplified without losing the audience’s suspension of disbelief. This is the first public offering of this workshop outside the DreamWorks studios.

From 1.30pm you can pop over to The Curve to check out ExpoTees – our end of year expo and see fabulous work by our third year games and animation students.

From 6.00pm Fringe event – Game Bridge networkingThe Hub, Join the speakers and studios for networking and game demos in our award-winningStudents’ Union Students’ Union.

Wednesday 24 May

Animex Workshops

Our intensive workshops and masterclasses give you a unique opportunity to learn from highly respected professionals in the animation and games industries. Roll up your sleeves and dive in.

Workshops are suitable for the 16+ audience and do not require prior knowledge.Locations will be confirmed at registration.

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Speakers

Matt EstelaVR supervisor Animal Logic

Peter Dodd Animation director Lupus Films

Stuart Penn VFX supervisor Framestore

Colin McEvoyAnimation supervisor Double Negative

Chris WyattAnimex AVFX

Peta BayleyAnimation supervisor MPC

David Hempstead3D artist The Mill

Bradley Floyd2D sequence supervisor Industrial Light and Magic

John SeruGeneralist lead Industrial Light and Magic

Domareen FoxArt director Studio Soi

Patrick BrenneckeProduction manager Studio Soi

Rob DresselDirector of cinematography and layout Walt Disney Animation Studios

Stuart SumidaProfessor of biology / anatomy consultant California State University

David PagetConcept artist and games lecturer Teesside University

Sarah PerryActing and movement coach Shapes in Motion

Rosemary ChalmersConcept artist and games lecturer Teesside University

Rhianna Pratchett Scriptwriter and story designer

Chris WalterGames producer BBC Children’s Interactive

Louise O’ConnorExecutive producer Microsoft Rare Ltd

Anna KipnisSenior gameplay programmer Double Fine

Emil PagliaruloDesign director Bethesda Game Studios

Gary NapperGame director Supermassive Games

Matt Boehm Gameplay character animator Blizzard

Åsa RoosSenior UX designer Bioware

Wyeth JohnsonTechnical art lead Epic Games

Richard OudLead animator Guerrilla Games

Sabrina SchmidAnimex Screen and Awards curator

Gabrielle Kent Animex festival director

Stephen Murray Animex Exhibition curator

Satish Shewhorak Animex host

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Festival map Animation and games

at Teesside University

We have a range of Skillset accredited, industry informed programmes to help you get the job you always dreamed of, or to make the next move in your career. Our graduates work around the globe in studios including Bioware, Rockstar, Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, Pixar, MPC, ILM, Double Negative, Studio Soi, Framestore, Ubisoft, Warner Bros, Microsoft, and many, many more.

Find out more by visiting our stand at the Lounge networking events in The Hub, Students’ Union.

T: 01642 342639E: [email protected] tees.ac.uk/schools/scm

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Campus Heart is a designated smoke free zone.

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Professional services

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Our range of innovative and exciting courses includes:

• character animation

• animation and VFX

• concept art

• games animation

• games art

• games design

• games programming

• indie games development

Join the growing army of Teesside graduates working in animation, visual effects and computer games.

Sponsorship opportunitiesIf you would like to support our future Animex festivals, contact Joanne Marwood at [email protected]

Supporters of the Animex Festival

Without the generous support of our sponsors and supporters we would be unable to make Animex happen. Thank you.

Teesside UniversityMiddlesbrough Tees Valley T: +44 (0) 1642 218121 TS1 3BX UK tees.ac.uk

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